By AfrikTimes | Abuja
The All Progressives Congress says it has finished uploading its full slate of candidates for the 2027 general elections ahead of INEC’s deadline, with party leadership pointing to the early completion as proof of the ruling party’s organisational readiness.
National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda disclosed the milestone on Sunday, in a statement issued through his Special Adviser on Media and Information Strategy, Abimbola Tooki. According to Yilwatda, the APC wrapped up its submissions covering every elective position, from state assembly seats through to the presidency, before INEC’s original deadline of Saturday, August 8. The commission has since extended that deadline by three days, to Tuesday, August 11, after other parties requested more time to complete their own submissions.
What the process involved
Yilwatda described the exercise as a significant logistical undertaking, requiring the nomination, documentation, verification and electronic submission of thousands of candidates across all 36 states and the FCT. He said it demanded close coordination between the party’s national secretariat, its state chapters, individual candidates, and election management teams operating down to the ward level.
He framed the achievement as evidence that the party has built the administrative capacity to match a nationwide political operation, rather than relying solely on campaign messaging.
A broader argument about governing capacity
Yilwatda used the milestone to make a wider point about what voters should weigh when evaluating parties ahead of 2027, arguing that a party’s ability to meet its own internal deadlines and coordinate its structures says something about its capacity to govern a country as complex as Nigeria. He suggested that any party struggling to organise its own nomination process should invite scrutiny over its readiness to manage national affairs more broadly, and encouraged voters to factor organisational discipline into their assessment alongside campaign promises.
What comes next for the party
With the candidate-upload process behind it, Yilwatda said the APC’s focus now shifts to campaign coordination, candidate engagement, grassroots mobilisation, and internal reconciliation efforts ahead of the polls. He thanked the party’s National Working Committee, state leadership, candidates and election management teams for their role in completing the exercise, and said the APC would continue positioning itself around a message of competence, continuity, and stability heading into 2027.
INEC’s extended deadline of August 11 now gives other political parties additional time to finalise their own candidate submissions.
